- That’s impossible.
(unfortunately/would not/possible) _______________________________________________
- We can’t go higher than 7%.
(would find/quite difficult) _____________________
- We won’t accept less than $5 a unit.
(afraid / not in the position / this stage)_________
- You’ll have to pay more if you want that.
(may / lightly)_____________________________
- We should spend more time looking for a compromise here.
(shouldn’t / little?) _________________________
- It would be a good idea to agree on a price before we go any further.
(wouldn’t / be better?)______________________
- We hoped you’d pay a deposit today.
(were hoping / able)________________________
- It will be difficult to get my boss to agree to this.
(might not / very easy)______________________
- That’s as far as we can go.
(think / about / the moment)__________________
II. What do the negotiators do to make their statements sound more diplomatically? Do you prefer the direct or diplomatic versions?
III. The following expressions are all useful in negotiations, but some letters are missing from the words. When you have completed them, the letters in the box spell out some good advise for a negotiator.
| Perhaps we should begin by outlining our initial …
| | | p
| | s
| | t
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Can I make a …
| | | | | | | | g
| g
| | s
| t
| | | | ?
| |
| What if we offered you an...
| a
| l
| t
| | | n
| | | | | e
| ?
| | | | | |
| Let me get this quite …
| | | | | | | | | l
| | | r
| | | | | |
| Would you be willing to accept a …
| | | | | | c
| | | p
| | | m
| | s
| | | |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| I’m afraid this doesn’t really solve our …
| | | | | | | r
| | b
| | | m
| | | | | |
| We may be in a position to revise our …
| | | | | | | | | | | f
| f
| | | | | |
| That’s about as far as we can go at this …
| | | | | | | | | | | t
| | g
| | | | |
| Are these terms broadly …
| | | | | | | | c
| c
| | p
| t
| | | ?
| | |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Let me just check I understand you …
| | | | r
| r
| | | t
| | | | | | | | | |
| I’m afraid we could accept this on one …
| | | | | | | | | | | n
| d
| | t
| | | |
| What sort of figure we are talking …
| | | | | | | a
| | | | t
| | | | | | |
| Could you give us an idea of what we are looking …
| | | | | | | | f
| | | ?
| | | | | | |
|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| What sort of time-scale are we looking …
| | | | | | | | | a
| | ?
| | | | | | |
| We’d like to see some movement on …
| | | | | | p
| r
| | c
| | | | | | | | |
| Can’t we just run through the main points once …
| | | | | | | | | | | o
| | e
| ?
| | | |
| At this moment, we do not see this as a viable …
| | | | | | | | | o
| | t
| | | | | | |
| We seem to be nearing …
| | | | a
| | | e
| e
| | | | t
| | | | | |
| Well, that’s it. I think we’ve earned ourselves a …
| | | | | | | | | d
| | | | k
| !
| | | |
